Improvement in seeding-machines



M. SIMMONS.

Corn Planter.

No. 23,403. Patented Mar. 29. 1859.

UNITED STATES PATENT @FFIGEQ MICHAEL SIMMONS, OF IRA, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN SEEDING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 23,403, dated March 29,1859.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MIoHAEL SIMMONS, of Ira, in the county of Jo Daviessand Stateof Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Seeding-lllachines; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear,

and exact description of the construction and operation of the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of thisspecification, in which Figure 1 represents a perspective view of themachine. Fig. 2 represents avertical section through the machine. Fig. 3represents a top plan of the frame, with the opening and covering shoesarranged thereon for seeding. Figs. 4and 5 represent a portion of theframe, with the same shoes or hoes arranged thereon for cultivating therows of corn, or whatever may be planted by the machine.

Similar letters of reference, where they oc our in the several figures,denote like parts of the machine in all of them.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe the same with reference to the drawings.

A represents a quadrangular frame supported on a pair of wheels, B, oneonly being seen in the drawings. On this frame A, toward itsrearportion, is placed the seed-hopper 0, which has a slide vibratingthrough its bottom part, provided with suitable cells for receiving andcarrying to the delivery-opening such charges of grain as may bedesirable to drop in planting.

On the wheel B there is a cogged wheel, D, which has its teeth or cogseccentrically formed thereon for a purpose that will be presentlydescribed. This cogged wheel D turns a pinion, a, on the shaft b, beinghung to a block, E, that is pivoted at c to the main frame. F is a leverattached to the block E for the purpose of swinging the spur-pinion ainto and out of gear with the cog-wheel D, a pin, 0, holding it when ingear.

The object of the oblique or eccentricallycut teeth or cogs on the wheelD is that the pinion-shaft b may be placed above the center of the wheelD, and on the frame. If these cogs were cut radially, as is universallythe case in bevel-gearing, the shaft 11 would have to cross the centerof the wheel D, and this would bring it below the frame and in a very1nconvenient position for operating the seed-slide,

which it does by a simple crank, (I, at its rear end; and, besides, Iget a position for the shaft 1) on top of and parallel with the mainframe by such a wheel as that shown at D, an ordinary bevel-wheel notadmitting of such an arrangement.

To the front cross-bar, A, of the main frame are attached or suspendedthe two bars G G, which are parallel to the cross-bar, and these barshave upon them slides d d d d, which can be moved along upon said barsto any desired point. To these slides are attached vertical bars 0,having a series of holes, 1, 2, 3, 4, &c., as seen in Fig. 2. To thesebars 6 are connected, at any adjusted height, the front ends of thebeams H H H H, and at such width or distance from each other as may bedesired for the special work to be done, said beams being connected by apin passing a through one of their adjustingholes and one of the holesin e, and so that they may play on said pin. I

To the rear cross-piece of the frame A are connected adjustable hangersf, also furnished with a series of adjusting holes, and through thesehangers pass the after portions of the beams H. The machine asrepresented in the drawings is arranged for planting corn, and there aretwo beams H to each dropping device, each beam carrying a shovel, I, theone in advance for opening the furrow for the seed, and the other one,behind and to one side of it, for covering the furrow after the seed aredropped therein; and a roller, J, may follow the coverer to press downthe earth OVBI the planted grain.

It will be observed that both the opening and covering shovels standoblique to the line of the furrows, though facing each other, as itwere, in pairs. The object of so placing these shovels will behereinafter more fully ex plained.

On the rear of the frame there is hung a shaft, K, on which there is apulley-wheel, L, and around this pulley-wheel passes or is wound a cord,g. To the shaft K is suspended, by cords or chains h, a bar, .M, whichis underneath the beams H, and long enough to catch all the beams whenit'is raised up, so that the operator, who walks behind the machine, bydrawing upon the cord 9, can instantly raise up all the beams and bringthe shovels above any intervening obstacle.

In Fig. 3 a top plan of the frame and of the opening and coveringshovels is seen as they are used: inplanting and covering grains infurrows, drills, or hills; and when the plants want cultivating I do itwith the same ma chine, notby adding to ortaking away any thing from themachine as a planter, but simply by the construction of my shovels, anda transposition of them from one to the other side of the machine; andby way of, illustration I shall call the shovels in Fig. 3, re-

spectively, 7 8 9 10. Then, if it be desirable to cultivate and throwthe earth toward the plants, I leave 7 and 9 as they are in planting andtranspose 8 and 10, which leaves them as shown in Fig. 4; but if Icultivate the plants and want to throw the earth away from them I leave8 and 10 as in planting and transpose 7 and 9, as shown in Fig. 5, whicheffects the object, and I thus by the same machine, and by the samedevices which open and close two furrows in planting, cultivate -asingle row of plants by either throwing the earth toward or from theplants, as I please. The shifting of the beams is done in a' moment, asit is only necessary to draw a pin to take them out, and they fit in anyof the hangers or bars, being slotted to straddle those 6. These beams,too, "have two adjustments, a vertical and horizontal one, so as to takea greater or less depth, or a wider or narrower furrow.

I am aware that a combined seeder and cultivator has been used, but nothaving such capabilities as mine, for mine is either, for the 2. Thearrangement of the beams H, with their skewed shovels and adjustableconnections, so that theymay be transposed from side to side of themachine atpleasure, in the manner and for the purpose herein set forthand explained.

i v M. SIMMONS.

Witnesses: A. B. STOUGHTON,

E. COHE

